Athens County unemployment falls as state’s rises

August unemployment numbers show that unemployment has fallen in all counties in the Athens area.

Ohio’s unemployment rate rose slightly in July, but remained constant in August, at odds with the national unemployment rate — which fell by 0.1 percent during the two-month time frame.

Ohio’s unemployment rate in August rose to 4.6 percent, up slightly from 4.5 in June. However, the unemployment rate is still lower than it was a year ago in August 2017, where it was reported at 5 percent.

The national unemployment rate was 3.9 percent in August, down from 4.3 percent a year ago.

The unemployment rate in Athens County has been trending downward over the past several months, though is still slightly higher than the start of the year. The current unemployment rate in Athens County has been reported at 6.1 percent. The county started the year off in January with an unemployment rate of 5.8 percent, according to data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services’ Office of Workforce Development’s Bureau of Labor Market Information.

Among the state’s 88 counties, preliminary August 2018 unemployment rates ranged from a low of 2.8 percent in Mercer County to a high of 6.7 percent in Adams County.